It may be late in the game to report this, but I've tested 5.2.8.005 on a number of my collected computers. (An unkind acquaintance with an aviation background refers to them as "hanger queens".) It worked well on virtually all, but I got diverted into chasing problems with Fatdog 5.21 and video drivers before I came back here. My concerns are not with this release, but with the future.

Lucid Puppy 5.2.8.005 works amazingly well, but I keep running into problems with embedded graphics chips and exits from the X window system on some machines. If someone has added off-board video cards, the console video may be on the wrong device. Other problems are just plain weird, like video which works with 4 GB of RAM, but fails with 8 GB, a sign of timing problems in shared video memory. Such problems have been around Linux machines from the beginning, and I'm not demanding that every video problem be solved. I'm also not terribly interested in solutions like magic keystrokes to switch virtual consoles, etc. (as with Gentoo). Even if I can remember them when I know that I need them newbies are helpless in these circumstances. This is not simply a problem with Lupu. I've had some very frustrating experiences with Ubuntu getting me to the point where I can almost use it, then going to video which prevents me from doing anything.

First, could we have a simple option to restrict video to something which won't cause unintelligible video on exit long enough to get set up? Second, when we have the system initially coming up with some kind of video able to display a desktop, could we use that to set up a save file before we exit? I've been doing that by copying a save file from another installation, then mounting it and deleting everything inside except the lost+found folder. (I'm using an ext3 save file.) This is found on shutdown, and current contents are saved, even if the console video is foobar. If no such file is created, everything works as intended via the console, provided the console output is intelligible. If an empty save file is created, the system saves on shutdown, and comes up ready to continue configuration, even if you can't see what it does on shutdown.

Same problem on two different laptops. Inititial boot looks great but first request to restart x always borks it. Always goes to xorg wizard, probe fails as does choose, even vesa is iffy, if x returns at all it's like looking at the screen through vaseline with no success in trying to return it to it's initial glory.

Have avoided this by declining the initial request to restart x and going about my business. Restarting x later causes no such problems, even before creating a save file.

Posted: Mon 16 Apr 2012, 13:14 Post_subject:
Patch-8 for Infrastructure Improvements to Lupu 528Sub_title: Contains fixes for original 5.2.8 through 005, same as in lupuplus with Update-3.

This describes the surviving puppy-infrastructure fixes since the original 5.2.8, with minor flash-installation differences from the lupuplus version: automatic-save on by default and /dev/snd not saved, both to match wary/woof. It is intended for those not wanting all of the additional drivers included in lupuplus. Improvements to make lupu "just work" better:

1. ALSA wizard and sound setup and consistency across boots:

- Alsawizard first window now includes the name of the current driver module (card), so user can know whether to change it.
- Synchronizes retention of selected sound card across reboots, to match whatever card ALSA actually sets as the default, to support moving of a USB sound device among PCs -- It influences ALSA's choice, but then retains whatever the current "card" is, in case the original card is no longer present.
- Corrects the verification that the sound module is loaded at bootup before being used.
- Corrects retrovol/volume-icon restoration in alsawizard, as done in wary & slacko (woof), to restore the icon for the sound test
- Corrects storing/restoring of the ALSA configuration, as in wary.
- Adds ALSA version data to alsa-info script.

- Removes /dev/snd, /dev/mixer & /dev/ttyUSB* files during initialization, as in wary.
- Omits saving of /dev/snd directory, as in wary.
- Prevents conflict among installer, uninstaller and save snapper that could corrupt an installation.
- Allows user to choose to be asked whether to save during shutdown, by setting "ask" in the /etc/shutdown_save_mode file.
- Corrects processing of removed (whiteout) files in several ways (removes actual file represented by whiteout, creates parent directories, deletes saved /pinstall.sh, /puninstall.sh & /pet.specs from package installations).
- Incorporates the recent wary/woof improvements to package installation and uninstallation on flash media
- Saving option supports all 3 ways of installing to a flash drive.
- "Save" icon (to trigger a save) function corrected so that it no longer refuses to run after the package manager has run, but waits until certain programs have terminated.
- "Merge" message in xerrs.log now includes the time the save operation occurred. *

To install the patch package in flash-drive installations, be sure to do at least one "save" in the session before installing. Otherwise the patch will detect that a save has not been done and will direct the user to uninstall it, save, then reinstall it.

3. Broadcom 43xx wifi support integration to prevent conflicts between proprietary (wl) driver and open-source drivers and prevent b43/b43legacy from loading too early. No blacklisting needed other than blacklisting of wl to force use of the open-source driver. *

- Corrected wag-profiles.sh script entries for cases added for lupu.
- Corrected management of the "conflict" between wl and the ssb driver so that affected wifi devices are detected upon reboot and use the proprietary driver if appropriate.
- If both proprietary drivers are present, as provided by package broadcom-sta-5.100.82.112-6_5.60.48.36-3_k2.6.33.2, switches to older version or open-source version for next boot-up if newer fails on first boot-up. Here is a link to the package containing that pair of drivers:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?mode=attach&id=54060

4. Shutdown:

- Corrects loss of file deletions during creation of a new pupsave file. Because hidden (.xxx...) files, including whiteout indicators, are saved only for the /root directory, the whiteout files were not preserved in the other directories. The whiteout files (except in the "/" directory) are now preserved, retaining all deletions in new pupsave files. *
Note, however, that no hidden files are preserved when a pupsave partition is populated; the fix would apply there, too, but was not implemented in this package.
- Corrects unmount of network shares to prevent hanging related to networked drives.
- Adds flash-drive save options for shutdown.

5. Miscellaneous fixes:

- Adds preference for Tenda wireless-N USB adapter: rt2800usb:rt2870sta.
- Adds USB3 support.
- Upgrades usb_modeswitch to 1.2.2 & 20120120.
- Corrects loss of the "numlock" setting during creation of a new pupsave file.
- Removes package artifacts during remastering, during which installed packages are integrated into the main SFS file, specifically /var/log/package-, /root/.package/*.files- and /root/.package/*.remove files. *
Note to those who use remastering to create a "boot disk": The package-cleanup improvements do not apply to that case, because retaining the entire /root directory negates/overrides the integration of installed packages.
- For PPM uninstall: seeks original file version in all layered SFS files, including zdrv, and adds kgodt's fixes for absence of a file name. *
- Adds time tags to udev event (udevtrace) logging *
- In pupdial, sets stupid mode if login ID is omitted *

That 1366X768 resolution could be the problem.
The video driver may not support that resolution, so it tries to use what it thinks will work. Older hardware drivers do not support this resolution, because when they where made, 1366X768 resolution was not used by anything.
I have this problem with a older Nvidia driver I have to use with my video card.
The monitor native resolution is 1366X768, but the driver can not produce this resolution.
I use 1280X800 resolution setting and it looks OK to me.
You can see what resolutions, the driver you are using supports, by typing this code in the console.

Code:

xrandr

_________________I have found, in trying to help people, that the things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected

If an empty save file is created, the system saves on shutdown, and comes up ready to continue configuration, even if you can't see what it does on shutdown.

I think you have already found the solution/workaround. But instead of modifying an existing pupsave file, you could first boot with option "pfix=nox", then at the # prompt enter "reboot", which should let you create a pupsave file. Then continue as you have been doing.
Richard

Have experienced the opposite, esp. in Racy/Saluki. On a 1440x900(native res.) card/monitor combo, refuses to select these and sets 1600x1200 which constitutes a worrying amount of overdrive. Sometimes Slacko baulks at 1440x900, too, but selects a much lower (960?x???), which is better than a black screen! Also get issues with the SiS Mirage chipset on Puppies based on Racy. Didn't/don't have these problems with much older monitors or video cards for which all Puppies were originally intended. For the moment, have added a manual vga switchbox to complement the KVM switch and a couple of really old boards on hand...
Somewhere along the line, the default boot-up text res. got swapped? Needing cheat codes to get a CLI instead of black screens on Racy/Saluki on problem HW.Edited_time_total

WOW!!
Sure glad you understand all of that.
Your support of Lucid Puppy is very much appreciated!
Your efforts just make a good thing better.
Thank you very much!!!!!_________________I have found, in trying to help people, that the things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected

Posted: Mon 16 Apr 2012, 13:44 Post_subject:
Re: Patch-8 for Infrastructure Improvements to Lupu 528Sub_title: Contains fixes for original 5.2.8 through 005, same as in lupuplus with Update-3.

rerwin wrote:

This describes the surviving puppy-infrastructure fixes since the original 5.2.8, with minor flash-installation differences from the lupuplus version: automatic-save on by default and /dev/snd not saved, both to match wary/woof. It is intended for those not wanting all of the additional drivers included in lupuplus. Improvements to make lupu "just work" better:.........

As usual, please report any issues here ASAP. Thanks.
Richard

Damn man! you obviously don't have a job but someone ought to hire you.

Now that I have finished playing with the 3.x kernel, next up will be an update version of Lupu Plus and Lupu Plus Libre that will include the amazing and impressive list of tweaks in rerwin's message above.

_________________I have found, in trying to help people, that the things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected

If an empty save file is created, the system saves on shutdown, and comes up ready to continue configuration, even if you can't see what it does on shutdown.

I think you have already found the solution/workaround. But instead of modifying an existing pupsave file, you could first boot with option "pfix=nox", then at the # prompt enter "reboot", which should let you create a pupsave file. Then continue as you have been doing.
Richard

I agree that this is a work-around, but not a good solution. What I was trying to get across is that many times the GUI does come up on the initial boot, but the save is borked by unintelligible video on exit from X.

This is not a specific Lupu problem, it has been around for ages. I'm suggesting that the option of creating an empty save file while you have the GUI would avoid problems for many people who would never get as far as pfix=nox. It would not require modification of anything else. Being able to mount partitions and see what is on them before you designate the place to put the file might also avoid some embarrassing "oops!" moments.